NYU to revive costless museum access program

NYU plans to resume the Museum Gateway program as early as mid-September, making select New York City museums free for students once once more.

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Sirui Wu

The New Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 235 Bowery. It is one of the participating organizations of NYU'southward Museum Gateway program. (Staff Photo by Sirui Wu)


September 14, 2021

NYU's Museum Gateway program will return in mid-September following a yearlong interruption . Students volition one time again take complimentary access to a choice of museums that previously included the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Historical Social club. Yet, the university has not nonetheless announced which of the previous partners will return equally part of the renewed Museum Gateway.

The program was temporarily discontinued in autumn 2020 due to pandemic-related closures and prophylactic concerns regarding indoor crowds, university spokesperson John Beckman said.

Since and so, the Facebook page for the plan has been taken downward and its folio on the NYU website has been cleared of data, displaying a single judgement maxim the program is "on pause at this time."

Bethany Godsoe, the senior associate vice president of student affairs, said that the determination to relaunch the plan was not made until September due to the relatively depression number of students on campus during the spring 2021 and summer 2021 semesters.

"The University's memberships are aligned with its fiscal yr, which begins every September," Godsoe said. "Nosotros are happy to reinstate it this bookish year. Information technology will formally relaunch later this month and we will update the Museum Gateway website at that time."

Steinhardt sophomore Citlalli Alvarado, who is spending their first semester on campus, said they were looking forrad to experiencing the metropolis through its fine art and were disappointed past the discontinuation of Museum Gateway.

"NYU ending the programme was upsetting," Alvarado said. "I of the things I looked forward to the most about going to school here is visiting the museums."

Despite cultural venues having reopened as early as August 2020, NYU did non announce the resumption of the programme, even during the jump 2021 semester — during which a considerable number of students returned to campus for hybrid classes. City guidelines reclassified visiting museums every bit a "low-gamble" activity in April 2021.

Earlier the suspension of the program, students had free admission to thirteen museums across New York City through university-sponsored partnerships, as well equally discounts on merchandise and tickets to museum events. Through the pause, some museums continued to offer no-fee entry to NYU students, although this was not due to partnerships with the university. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, gives residents of New York state and students from the tri-country area the option to choose how much they pay for a ticket.

The Museum of Modernistic Fine art too maintained gratuitous entry to those with NYU IDs despite the plan'southward suspension. Even so, in Apr 2021, NYU was abruptly removed from its listing of partnered institutions. Members of the university community must now pay the regular admission charge.

Some students were able to visit city museums during the by year despite the counterfoil of Museum Gateway; others, however, found costs of admission to be a barrier. Steinhardt sophomore Maria Sanger, who studies studio art, highlighted the program's relevance to her major.

"Sadly, as a student on a tight budget, I can't beget to meet all the work in all the museums I want," Sanger said. "Bringing NYU's Museum Gateway program back into action would profoundly benefit my educational activity and give me a sense of security equally I navigate my next 3 years as an NYU art student."

Many students expressed their excitement about the programme's reinstatement. Laura Zhang, a Gallatin junior, said that museums are a critical part of the New York City experience.

"I beloved going to them for gratis on weekends with friends to see new exhibitions and explore the metropolis in a new way," Zhang said. "I think NYU students would get a lot out of getting access to them because the city really is a part of our campus."

Mei Lamison contributed reporting.

Contact Rose Ahn at [email protected]